• Dec 26, 2004

    My favorite songs of 2004

    I like music. Well, I like the music that I like, not all genres. OK, honestly, I'm fairly picky about the songs I listen to. I only listen to alternative, alternative rock, punk rock, punk pop, and rap (mostly Eminem) music (I'm not even sure if the genres are correct). Music keeps me sane on commutes of more than an hour long to and from work, and shuts out noise at work whenever necessary (not that it happens often). As a result, I probably have a rather unhealthy dependence on my iPod mini - I can't go anywhere without it.

    Argh, I realize that recently, my thoughts don't flow in a coherent manner when blogging. I think it has to do with a combination of factors: World of Warcraft addiction (anyone interested in a Firefox guild?), book writing, and not getting enough sleep. Anyway, let's get back on track shall we?

    Now, since almost everyone is doing it (posting their top 10 albums of 2004 and the like), I thought I'd share a little on what I have been listening to over the past year. These are not songs that were released in 2004 though, just the songs I've listened to the most often in 2004.

    1. Slow Motion (Dirty Version) by Third Eye Blind
      I love Third Eye Blind. I probably played this song more than a thousand times over the year. This has such a catchy instrumental background - at first I wasn't aware of the "dirty version" (drug themes) and only heard the clean instrumental version that had minimal lyrics. I liked that a lot and after I was made aware of the version with lyrics, I liked it even more for its quirky lyrics.
    2. Hands Down by Dashboard Confessional
      With lyrics like this: "My hopes are so high that your kiss might kill me. So won't you kill me, so I die happy", what's not to like? I had this song set to repeat over and over again on my iPod quite a few times.
    3. Rough Draft by Yellowcard
      This is actually a sappy love song if you follow the lyrics, but I kinda like the way it flows off your tongue. Same for this, I had this set to single repeat as well for a period of time.
    4. Friends O' Mine by Bowling For Soup
      Damn catchy and nice to sing along to. Well, I sing along (very, very quietly and discreetly) to almost every song here in this list.
    5. Vindicated by Dashboard Confessional
      This was popular because it was in the Spiderman 2 OST. I didn't catch it on radio (I don't listen to radio anymore actually) and didn't know that it was that popular until I heard it on the radio.
    6. Inside Out by Yellowcard
      "Here. A little sympathy. For you to waste on me." Yellowcard seems to like writing songs that are self-pitying. And I seem to like those songs. Self-pitying bastard.
    7. World at Large by Modest Mouse
      I didn't actually like Modest Mouse at first when introduced to them by a good friend. They're one of my favorites now.
    8. Map Of Your Head by Muse
      This song is just good. I mean, listen to it. The guitars sound great, the Muse lead singer is at his best.
    9. El Scorcho by Weezer
      "I'm a lot like you, so please, hello, I'm here, I'm waiting."
    10. Undone - The Sweater Song by Weezer
      This is a weird semi-song. "If you want to destroy my sweater, hold this thread as I walk away."
    11. Semi-Charmed Life by Third Eye Blind
      This makes number 11. I can't leave out this one - this introduced me to look away from mainstream pop songs that I was somewhat into at the time. Granted, Semi-Charmed Life is almost a pop song, but it did spur me to check out Third Eye Blind and that led to other similar artistes.

    So, what have you guys been listening to this past year? Anyone have similar tastes? More importantly, do you have any songs or artistes to recommend?

  • Dec 25, 2004

    Mozilla Update website gets a facelift

    Mozilla Update has gone through a facelift and now looks much better than before (and also, more importantly, it now looks and feels like the main mozilla.org site).

    Mozilla Update website cropped screenshot


    I haven't seen any announcement on this yet on mozilla.org nor on MozillaZine

  • Dec 24, 2004

    Opera 8 beta 1

    Opera 8 Beta 1 is out. Get it from the Opera website. Changelog.

  • Dec 24, 2004

    How would you feel if your organization forbade you from using Firefox?

    Remember I mentioned Vanessa Tan who had an IE-only policy at work? Now, the policy is official and an unbendable rule (my understanding was that Vanessa was able to use it somehow, before). Read her farewell to Firefox.

    Much has been sacrificed in the name of security.

    Of course, that bit is debatable (because IE is intrinsically insecure, though Firefox is not without its problems, as its security has been called into question recently). I shan't go there. But please, don't bring up the point of security via obscurity (because I believe there is no way you can prove it is true until Firefox is as widely-used as IE).

    Back to the blog title: how would you feel if your organization refused you the freedom of using your preferred browser (assuming that it isn't IE that you dig)? Would you take it lying down, or would you take reactive action? Remember this is different from an IT policy that, for example, forbids you from installing unlicensed software or software that is particularly vulnerable to security risks (I'm tempted to say IE here). Firefox is neither unlicensed software, nor is it as vulnerable to security risks as the software you are (hypothetically) being forced to use (IE). I know I wouldn't be happy. You might as well take away my Internet connection (which just may happen at work, soon, but for other reasons).

  • Dec 23, 2004

    Gmail invites are back

    Looks like they're giving them out again.

    Screenshots of my Gmail invites


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